The Guardians
by Digifan316
Summary: Co-Written by Jarkota, a reboot of an alternate take on Civil War. When the greatest heroes are at each other's throats, the fate of the world is dependent on both the welder of an ancient weapon and the possible future version of a hero... that is if they can get along long enough to save it.


I guess you can say my life was different growing up... not just as a kid, but as an Argo in general.

_ "Wow! My first dig!"_

_"You wanna see something, son?"_

For us Argos, our bloodline is divided in two. Half the family protects the planet, the other half protects its history. Sure, we've had rarities where an Argo did their own thing - "Argo Anomalies", we call them - but for the most part an Argo has either saved the world or preserved what came before.

_ "Huh... I don't think this belongs here."_

_"A crowbar with the words 'Auto-Pilot' among Inca ruins, hon? I don't think..."_

But ever since that day, when I was a stupid ten year old kid and I touched that one artifact...

_ "Jason! Don't tou..."_

...and I saw an anthropomorphic bear in an airplane, I knew my life wouldn't be the same.

_ "Who... or what are you?"_

_ "OH WOW!"_

_The Guardians_

_Chapter 1: Strange Encounters_

by

DigiRanma and Jarkota

_One Year ago..._

At 24 years old, Jason Argo has lead what many would call an interesting life, even in a world full of Marvels. Half his family are archeologists, the other are protectors in various stages of service from cops to the armed forces, with his sister being one of NYPD's finest. Jason himself is a security guard at the Natural History Museum, ran by his family, but that's not the interesting part.

Ever since Jason was ten, at random times, usually when he touches an artifact that doesn't belong, he can go to other realities. Infinite worlds, worlds where mutants and humans were at peace, worlds where your favorite show was the reality, worlds where he saw the best of men and the worst of men. To some, this would be interesting for Jason. But for Jason, it's just as normal as today, even with a bunch of school children in front of him.

_Oh jeez... field trip day._ Jason thought, not in the mood for it. It wasn't that he hated kids, far from it. He was cold, he was tired, and the rain didn't help matters. But, a job's a job and he has to do it... even if it looked like one of the older kids was being a jerk to the younger ones while a couple of the teachers were 'meh' about it.

"Okay, you dweebs! Listen up because the Bradster has a few rules you need to follow..." the older kid said.

"I thought it was the teachers that made the rules," Jason responded, causing everybody to turn in his direction. One of the teachers, a balding man with a monocle, walked right up to him.

"Ah, you must be Mr. Argo, ze security chief, yah?"

"Yeah, I was told you guys would be here today, mister...?"

"Rottwood, Hans Rottwood. Ve instructed Mr. Morton to instruct ze kiddies as he's been on more trips than them."

_ Gee, I wonder why..._ Jason dryly thought. The young man in question then walked right up to him.

"Yeah, the Bradster's got this one in the bag." Just then, Jason's umbrella...

*POW*

...extended and popped Brad right in the jaw.

"Oh! I'm sorry, this thing is broken, it sometimes has a mind of its own!" This earned some snickers from the kids, and even a couple of the teachers as Brad, dazed, walked away and Jason, while he and Rottwood weren't looking, winked at the group. Three kids in particular, one with green spiky hair, smiled at the wink.

_Two days later..._

Jason was looking over security footage when he looked up and saw some kids skating down the rails of the museum and shrugged his shoulders. _They're kids, they ain't hurtin' anybody,_ he thought. Unfortunately, he looked up and saw a cop that didn't think the same thing as he was giving the kid with green spiky hair and his friends a hard time.

"Oh jeez..." Jason said out loud as he went outside to defuse this. "Excuse me!" The cop then looked and saw the red-headed security guard. "What's going on here?"

"These kids are grinding on these rails and could hurt somebody!" The cop said, not really happy about the kids. Jason then saw who the guy's badge.

"Hey, you're in my sister's unit, aren't you?" He asked with a smirk.

"Oh, so you're the famous Jason Argo. I'm Ted, yeah." The man said as he shook Jason's hand. "Your sister's one of the best and says you're one of her inspirations."

"Oh, no, she's the one who's inspiring, I'm just guarding a museum."

"Yeah, but she said you're a stubborn SOB who doesn't stop until something's right, fixed, or whatever."

"Look, I can explain," Jason said as he pointed to the kids. "These guys are skating because I told them one hour of learning equals one hour of skating, grinding, whatever. They're fine."

"So they have your permission?"

"Absolutely, right?" Jason said as the kids nodded in response.

"Alright, but if they cause trouble..."

"You or my sister'll be the first to know." Jason said with a smile. The cop nodded, then leaves, causing Jason and the others to sigh in relief.

"Thanks, mister!" The green haired kid said.

"Yeah, if it wasn't for you, we'd be in trouble." The black kid responded, as both she and Jason fist bumped as a sign of thanks.

"Just like the time I thought that clown was following me for my peanuts." The one in the hat said, causing the rest to look at him oddly.

"Riiiiiiiiiiiiight..." Jason responded. "Well, get your skates and head on in."

"What?" The green haired kid said shocked.

"Well, you don't wanna make me a liar, right?"

"Awwwwwwwww, man." The kid responded. They'd go somewhere else, but the rails were prime for grinding. "Okay, but as long as we're here, the names are Jake, Trixie, and Spud."

"I'm Jason, nice to meet you guys."

_Now..._

"GAH!" Jason shot awake, in a cold sweat, seeing that he was back behind his desk, back in the security job, still wearing his black trench coat and matching shirt and pants, and shoes. He checked his back to make sure the object that started it all, the scimitar that he picked up six months ago, was still there.

The sword known as the "Boomerang Blade" wasn't Jason's originally. It was found by his family years ago and put in the museum, but something happened to cause Jason to grab it and use it as a weapon. And, regardless if his family liked it or not, it had been his ever since.

And the dreams of destruction that came with it.

_ Great, and now I can't stay awake at work, _ Jason thought. His dreams had been strange the past few months, but at one point he'd always have the same nightmare of mass destruction caused by unknown shadows and figures and he can't figure out how to stop it.

That train of thought was cut short as a customer walked in. One who didn't look like an art connoisseur, but he lives in a world where a playboy dresses in a tin suit and calls it "Monday." The man in question was in also dressed in black, from his worn leather boots and denim pants to his long shirt and trench coat with the collar turned up. As an added bonus for the 'brooding' look, he wore a wide-brimmed black hat, tilted downward to obscure the upper half of his face.

"Sorry pal, wrestling is in the Garden, few blocks away. Though, gotta say, that's a good cosplay."

The man growled in response, but calmly placed his hands on the table. "I have no time for idle conversation," he calmly said but with a hint of impatiences. "Give me the skull and walk away with your life."

Jason just smirked in response. "The skull? Pally boy, ya in a _history _museum," Jason replied. "We have skulls from one of Caligula's servants to King Henry the 8th. Gonna narrow it down for me?"

The man leaned in a bit as he got more irritated at the security guard in front of him. "The _Aztec_ skull."

Jason just wouldn't stop smirking and had to fight a chuckle at this. "What part of _history_ don't ya understand, pal? Ether narrow it down or we can cut the middle man and I can kick ya out right now."

The man wasn't amused as he got angrier to the point where Jason swears he can see steam coming out of his nose. "The _Aztec Crystal Skull_! You really are as dumb as you look."

"Oh, we must be related then." Jason said with this never leaving smirk as he got up from his seat. "Sorry pal, we ain't in the business of givin'."

"Give me the skull," the dark man said, having enough. "Or I will take it by force. I have little time and am n no mood for games."

Jason sighs as he pushes the chair away from him as he sighs. "It's always the hard way. Look, pal, I'm a reasonable jerk, yer an asshole with a hat, we can talk about it or we can fight." The man's response was a lighting bolt just a foot to the right of Jason's head, leaving a smoking hole behind him.

"That was your last warning." The man said, with his fingers slightly smoking from the lightning bolt.

"Oh, good." Jason gets out his sword from his coat's back seethe. "Here's mine." The man's response was to vanish, causing Jason to be confused for a bit until...

*POW*

...a backhand launches Jason into the wall behind him where the hole was...

*CRASH*

*THUD*

...making him land on the floor in the next room. Despite the pain, he stood up, brushing the drywall dust from his clothes.

"Ow... okay... note to self: Don't challenge you to tennis." The dark man walked into a side door in the lobby, going into the still-under-construction South American exhibit. "HEY! TALL, DUMB, AND UGLY!" This was ignored, so Jason's next statement was quick running kick to the back of the head. "The round ain't over yet!"

Barely flinching, the man turned around and kicked Jason hard enough that he flew backwards over his desk landing on the floor. Jason struggled a bit to get up, but he still had some fight left. "Okay... never play you in soccer, either." Jason looked up, then tossed his sword to cut the cables holding the replica giant turtle shell - easily weighing five hundred pounds -to the ceiling, hoping it would trap the man as it fell. "YES! Score one for the idiot!"

But it was to no avail, as the man just flipped it over and headed through the door, going straight for a glass case containing a skull made of pure crystal, gleaming under the artificial lighting.

Jason just sighed. "You do know those are authentic fakes, right?"

The man stopped and turned, looking angrier than Jason thought possible. "..._What?_"

"I'm gonna assume ya know about magic, so I'll cut the middle man BS. Ya really think we're gonna leave somethin' in a place the Hunstclan tore up recently ta find?"

"_Where. Is._ _It?_" the man said, sounding less human.

"Look at the sword in my hand and honestly tell me if this means I'll answer." Jason responded, the smirk again never leaving his lips.

"You have no concept of what's at stake," the stranger said in a mix of anger and urgency. "Without it, a world will _die!_"

"What do..." Jason then saw the dark eyes formerly hidden by the hat brim. Jason Argo trained once to the point where he can spot a shapeshifter in the room, so he knew who he was looking at.

Or, at least, one version of him.

"Well, I'll be... what do you go by? Jake, or Long?" The man then lifts his face, showing indeed the dragon eyes that are glowing in anger.

"You have no right to ssssssssssssspeak that name!" The man said, sounding more reptilian than human.

"Okay..." Jason said, surprised at this. "What name do you go by?"

"I have no name. Not anymore," he said.

"Well, we can't call you that; Clint Eastwood might sue." The man got more angry at the responses Jason kept giving.

"My time and patiencccce isssss running out. Give me the Sssssssskull and I will leave you. The Huntsssssclan will never even sssset eyesssss upon it." Jason just sighed at the proof that he had this was indeed who he thought it was.

"...You really are Jake Long... okay, we're gonna play a game of stop and think. If I know who and what you are, at least in this reality, and I know about the Skull, then I gave the skull to...?"

"I do not have times for _gamesssss!_ Give me the Sssskull! _NOW!_" the stranger bellowed, tired of feeling like he's getting nowhere.

"Right. Jake Long. Ned to dumb it down." Jason sighed, tired of not getting through to the man. "I gave it to your alternate self, my version of you, The American Dragon." The man then looked at him and calmed down a little, but not enough to sound human.

"Then it issss in ssssafe hands...but it ssshall ssssooon be mine." He paused, as though something else had gotten his attention. "What isss thisss...? I ssssensssssse ssssssomething..."

"Hold it dude!" Jason said trying to defuse a situation before it even starts. "Ya arrive the way ya did, ya gonna get in a fight with Jake and his sis." The man's eyes then went wide as he started to look around.

The dark man's focus changed as the conversation sunk in. His expression one of pain and regret. "Ssssissster..." His eyes then softened, returned to being human looking. "...Haley..."

"Right, Haley." Jason replied, thankful he found something to calm him down. "Jake alone's a force to be reckoned with, but the both of 'em? I've seen entire trauma wards in less pain than you would be. Tell ya what, ya ride with me, I'll smooth things over, and ya can explain ta all of us why ya need it." The look on the man's face said that was the last thing to say.

"No! I cannot! They must not see me!"

"I go to yer neck of the woods, say I need the world-blow-up thingie after trashin' your place, are ya gonna give it ta me? Look, let me talk to 'em and I'll smooth things over. If a world needs 'em for somethin', I'm sure they'll help ya."

"They won't. Because I wouldn't." It was clear that this man wouldn't give an inch. "If the Skull is not here then I am wasting my time. Get out of my way."

_If he wouldn't, then there's a good reason that wish can't come true. _Jason thought. _ Better play along... _"I can take ya ta Lao's shop. I'm sure only Fu Dog's guardin' the place and he can help ya."

"No. I can't see them. I can't see anyone. I'm endangering things just by _being_ here." The man took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, realizing what he had done. "I was...unreasonable before. I should not have attacked you. You are only doing your duty, as I am doing mine."

"Yeah, we security guards kinda sorta go a wee bit on the combative side when we hear the word 'gimmie' in the place we're guardin'." Jason replied with a smirk.

"But if you knew what was at stake...the tragedy that will soon befall everyone...you would do the same as I." The man then looked more focused than before and ready to resume his search. "Now, get out of my way. I will do what I must."

"No, if I knew what was at stake, I'd call anybody and everybody who can help." Jason said trying to defuse the situation and find out what's going on, but the look on the man's face says it's not working. "I've seen end of the world scenarios before, pal. Why do you think I got this thing on my back?"

"I'm the only one that can do anything. I am the last, and it falls upon me to set things right. I will ask you one more time to get out of my way."

"And I will say one more time if this is a 'needs everyone' situation, I'm gonna help _and_ call everyone."

"It needs one person. Me."

"It needs everybody."

"No. It doesn't." Having enough of the argument, the man disappears again, this time not reappearing until he is on the other side of the entryway and Jason has been knocked flat on his back.

"I asked more than once for you to move. You should have listened." The man exited the lobby into the night, leaving Jason a little dazed and not too happy.

"Great..." _G__ood thing I know where he's going._

Next to the fake skull, there sat another glass case, inside of which was a diamond-shaped jewel twice the size of an outstretched hand. It had been gathering dust there for two years, more a curiosity than anything, and largely ignored. But, in the wake of the dark man's arrival, it had begun to glow faintly from within, pulsing with a steady rhythm. Below it, a simple paper card identified the jewel as the "HEART OF LA-MULANA".

_TO BE CONTINUED..._

Standard copyright disclaimer applies. Save for the original characters, we own nothing in this work of fanfiction. All other characters and scenarios are owned by Walt Disney Studios and Marvel Comics.


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